


A Knight in Shining Armor

by ChaoticDemon



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, character introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-16
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 11:00:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/686198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticDemon/pseuds/ChaoticDemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short little piece on Al. Sometimes one's childhood fantasies can affect one's later life a little too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Knight in Shining Armor

He used to love those stories. His mother would sit on the edge of his bed and tell him tales of gallant knights and ferocious dragons; of beautiful maidens and powerful sorcerers. He and his brother would listen with rapt attention as an intricate web was verbally spun before them. Even when Ed had declared himself too old and mature for such fairytales and abandoned them for science, Al was still drawn to them. He had yearned to become like those daring men. He began to try and imitate what he thought they might do. However, his attempts to take on evil monsters (usually played by Den) more often than not ended up with Ed laughing at him and Winry whacking his brother over the head for his response.

When his mother passed away he was devastated. His brother, also in the throes of sorrow, offered to tell him those stories in their mother's place. Alphonse would have none of it. He decided to give up on those fantasies. In their stead, he subconsciously began to behave with a sense of chivalry and righteousness. These, in combination with his naturally gentle spirit, made him act more like those men he had admired than any of his mock quests could have. Edward must of noticed this in the back of his mind. After all, of all the things he could have picked to be his little brother's body after that failed transmutation, he picked that suit of armor.

The more cynical part of Al's mind couldn't help itself from pointing out on a number of occasions that the search for the Philosopher's Stone was exactly like the quests he had longed to be a part of when he was younger. As much as he hated to admit it, that was the truth. As he saw what became of Nina, had Martel killed inside of him, became the Stone, and heard of Hughes' death, he couldn't help but notice that quests are much more awe-inspiring when one isn't part of them.

The quest had concluded and he was back in his old body with no memory of what had transpired. He had found an old book in a store, promptly bought it, and had once again fallen in love with the stories. When they discovered what he was reading Auntie Pinako gave a pained sigh, Izumi looked at him with sad eyes, and Winry outright cried. The boy could only sit there confused. He just couldn't figure out why they would react that was to his interest in becoming a knight in shining armor.


End file.
